Flying-machine.



9 B a, w; M 2 W Y A A M CY T a N H r F R SWBENY FLYING MACHINE. APPLIOA'IION FILED SEPT. e. 1907.

WITNESSES m. 4.6 7 2 FRANCIS RAYMOND SWEENY, OF ANDERSON, SOUTH CAROLINA.

FLYINGJVIACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1908.

Application filed September 6, 1907. Serial No. 391,608.

To all whom it may-concern:

Be it known thafI, FRANCIS RAYMOND SWEENY, a citizen of the United States, and

a resident of Anderson, in the county ofAnderson and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and Improved Flying-Machine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to flying machines and the object of the'invention is to produce improved means of propulsion, including means for balancing or maintaining the equilibrium of the machine.

The invention. consists in the construction and combination of parts to be more fully described hereinafter and particularly set forth in the claims.

ing drawings formin a part of'this specification,in which simi ar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

Figure 1 is a plan of the machine; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

Referring more particularly to the parts, 1 represents an aeroplane of elongated diamond form, as viewed in plan, and below this aeroplane inclined braces 2 and 3 are provided, which meet the aeroplane 1 at the points or extremities thereof, and which meet on the middle line '4 of the machine. In the aeroplane 1 on each side of the middle line 4, cir- 'cular openings 5 are formed, and in these openings horizontal gyroscope wheels 6 are mounted, the same being supported upon vertical shafts 7 which extend downwardly.

shaft 9 which extends in a front and rear direction on the central axis of the machine as shown. This shaft 9 is provided with bevel gears 10 which afford means for driving the shaft 7 in opposite directions, through. the medium of bevel gears 11 carried by the gyroscope shafts, as indicated. The forward end of the shaft 9 projects from the bottom or forward inclined brace 2, and is provided with a propeller wheel or' screw 12, A similar propeller wheel 13 is provided at the other extremity of the shaft, and toward the rear of the machine. The inclined braces 2 and 3 are provided with recesses 14 which extend up mto the machine so as to provide 15 are provide the machine.

space for the rotation. of the wheels, as will be readily understood.

' In the up er-or main aeroplane 1, forward and aft of tie roscope wheels 6, openings (I? in which balance Wings 16 and 17 are mounted, the said balance wings being mounted upon the horizontal shafts 18,

the ends of which are supported near the sides of the aeroplane, as shown.

On one side of the machine, the shafts 18 are provided with-rigid arms 19which are connected by a cord 20 which extends longitudinally of This cord passes near the position of the operator, so that by pulling the cord toward the left as viewed in Fig. 2, the forward ends of the balance wings 16 and 17 1 may be depressed, and vice versa. Reference is tol'be had tothe accompanymounted upon a rudder-post 24." A similar rudder 25 is mounted in a similar opening 26 formed in the web near the rear end of the machine, and this rudder is attached to a rudder-post 27, as indicated. These rudderposts project downwardly below the frame of the machine, and are provided with pulleys or-wheels 28 around which cords 29 and 30 pass. These cords ass through the middle ortion of the mac line, running around guire pulleys 31, for this purpose. At the middle point of the machine they are attached to a vertical controller shaft 32 having wheels 33 and 34 to which the cords attach respectively, as shown. The arrangement of these. cords in attaching them to the wheels is such that when the shaft is rotated in a left-hand direction as viewed in plan, the forward end of the rudder 23 will be moved toward the left, and the end 25 toward the right. In this way, from the osition of the operator, the direction of a varice of the machine can. be controlled as well as its equilibrium. The action of the gyroscopes is to keep the machine in a horizontal position, and inthis connection, attention is called to the fact that the gyroscopes rotate in opposite directions so that when they are running at a low speed and lose a part of the tendency to reinain in a horizontal osition, they counteract each other in action; In this way a perfect balance of the machine is obtained. r

Betweenthe bevel-gears 1O 'and the proellers 12 and 13 I place friction clutches 35. y opening the clutches the shaft 9 will drive the gyroscopes Without driving the pro ellers.-

aving thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A flying machine having an aeroplane with openings therein, gyroscope wheels rotatably mounted in a horizontal plane in said openings and havingwvertical shafts extending downwardly, a motor disposed between said gyroscope wheels, alfording means for driving the same in oppositedirections, horizontally disposed balance wings mounted in said aeroplane, vertically disposed rudders at the forward and rear ends of said machine, and means for controlling said balance wings and said rudders from a position near said motor.

2. A flying machine having an aeroplane of elongated diamond form in plan, said aeroplane having openings therein disposed at equaldistances from the transverse middle line thereof, gyroscope wheels rotatably mounted in said openings and having vertical shafts extending downwardly, a motor between said gyroscopes and affording means for drivin the same in opposite directions, said aerop ane having openings dis )osed forwardly and rearwardly respectiveiy of said first openings, balance Wings mounted in a horizontal position in said last openings, means for controlling said balance wings from a osition near said motor, vertically dis oser rudders disposed near the forward and rear ends of said machine, means for controlling said rudders from a position near said motor, said motor having a longitudinally extending shaft, and controllers carried by said motor shaft adapted to advance said machine.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANCIS RAYMOND SWEENY.

Vitnesses:

J. (7. GAMBRELL, R. S. OLIVER. 

